To provide computer users with a greater range of capabilities and greater speed, several multi-processor systems and methods have been developed. A significant percentage of current multi-processor technology involves either single operating system (OS) symmetrical shared memory multi-processor (SMP) platforms, or distributed OS platforms. In the case of SMP, one operating system controls all the central processing units (CPUs) in the system. A distributed OS on the other hand allows multiple copies of the same operating system to run on multiple partitions of an MP platform. However, both SMP and distributed OS systems have limitations. For example, neither system allows for different, specialized operating systems (particularly suited to specific tasks) on different partitions. One operating system may be extremely effective for real-time processing tasks, while another operating system may merely be a glorified transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) stack with firewall capabilities, and so on. It would be desirable to allow for such a fit between the platform partition's function and the operating system selected for that function. For example, currently when a computer user runs a real-time application (such as a digital video data (DVD) or moving picture experts group (MPEG) video in a media player), and at the same time various applications are running in the background, glitches typically appear in the real-time playback data.